


...David?

by darlingDesires



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Ascension, Comfort, David is replaced by Daniel, Max goes through emotional distress, NOT shippy I will fight, Nightmares, There's another chapter now whoops how did that happen, be cautious if that upsets you, dadvid, hi there's a good chunk of descriptive-ish gore in here?, it's in the Halloween spirit but still, working through trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-27 20:14:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12589720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlingDesires/pseuds/darlingDesires
Summary: “Helloooo? You guys were supposed to be awake two hours ago. The campers are milling about like sheep waiting for instructions. It’s a wonder they haven’t managed to injure themselves already.” Max pushed the door shut behind him, fingertips lingering on the handle a bit longer than necessary. After the click of the door and the clunk of his foot, the room was silent. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He took a few steps into the center of the room. “Don’t fucking tell me you’re still asleep.”





	1. ...David?

**Author's Note:**

> tw: descriptive gore (somewhat)  
> tw: violence  
> tw: sadness :(

Max sighed under his breath as he made his way up to the counselors’ cabin, knocking at the door. The curtains had been drawn and the light seemed to be off, maybe Gwen and David just hadn’t woken up yet. Yeah, that would explain it.

When his knocks were of no avail, he tried the handle. The door drifted open with ease, the sunlight carved a pathway across the rugged mahogany floor. Max stepped in, it was difficult to see into the cabin, he’d have to feel around until his eyes adjusted.

“Helloooo? You guys were supposed to be awake two hours ago. The campers are milling about like sheep waiting for instructions. It’s a wonder they haven’t managed to injure themselves already.” Max pushed the door shut behind him, fingertips lingering on the handle a bit longer than necessary. After the click of the door and the clunk of his foot, the room was silent. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He took a few steps into the center of the room. “Don’t fucking tell me you’re still asleep.”

As Max’s eyes began to adjust, he noticed a person seated with their back to the wall. The way their hair fell… was it Gwen? He walked over and nudged her with his foot, sliding his hands into his sweatshirt pocket with an exasperated and dramatic rolling of the eyes. His gaze shifted to the empty bunk beds. “Come  _ on _ . You can’t sleep through the whole goddamn day. You have a  _ job,  _ in case you forgot?”

Things only became clearer when it became more and more obvious that Gwen wasn’t sleeping. At least, it didn’t look like she was sleeping with the way her head fell, and with the redness still trailing from the corner of her lips.

Max stepped back from her. He could feel his whole body begin to shake. “I need to call someone…” He mumbled aloud, eyes darting around the room to where he thought he saw something moving in the shadows.

But as Max turned to look, something hit him hard and fast in his stomach, forcing him to collapse to the floor. His calloused fingers clawed at the ground beneath him while gasped for breath. The splinters of the broken up floor causing his bleeding hands were the last thing he needed to worry about right then. He flipped over to his back, eyes upward to view the face of his attacker. Instead of a face to identify, the sparrow staff that was once symbolic of shared prosperity and everlasting spiritual youth was brought down on him at a frighteningly fast pace. Max threw himself to the side and a cough escaped his lungs.

His assaulter turned towards him with an unnerving smile, and only now was Max able to see who it was. It was… “David?!”

Why had David tried to strangle him? Max’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion and frustration as he opened his mouth to prepare for something more, a question that could clarify the situation. But he found himself unable to form words. Whoever it was clearly wasn’t David. Everything fit David’s character- the yellow bandana, the uplifted haircut, the tall and lanky build, the freckles… wait. Were the freckles starting to… melt from his face?

A sickly cackle escaped the man. “Guess again.” The staff cracked against the wooden flooring. He reached into the bag that was propped up against a chair which was promptly kicked against the door and out he pulled a knife, jagged and metallic.

Max knew exactly where he’d seen that knife before. The curved blade could never escape his nightmares.“Son of a bitch! How the fuck did you escape prison?”

“Max, what have we talked about?” Daniel brought his hand to his face and wiped the freckles off, leaving a soft brown smear across the tops of his cheeks. The person he thought he’d known took two steps towards him, the dim light cast from the almost shut curtains glinted off of the blade. “Watch your language. It’s immature and rude to curse.”

Max scurried up to a standing position, eyes locked on the cultist as he walked backward. His mind was racing, and his options were running thinner the more the gap between the two closed.  _ Think, Max, Think.  _ He bumped into the desk, and a thought crossed his mind. Max reached behind him and ran his hand along the top of the desk. He grabbed a pair of scissors and opened the blade, holding it out towards the other. His voice wavered as he spoke, and he did his best to keep it steady. “Stay the fuck away from me, you fucking psychopath.”

Daniel shifted his weight towards the small kid, pricking his finger against the tip of the blade. A thin bead of crimson blood trickled down his hand at a slow and steady pace. “Now now, let’s not be hasty with our words. We wouldn’t want to say something we’d regret.”

“Where’s David?” As Daniel took another gentle step forwards into the sliver of light that kept the room from being totally dark, Max could see the unnaturally pale irises surrounding David’s eyes. Daniel’s eyes. The way he looked at Max sent chills up his spine. He straightened his posture and jabbed towards Daniel forcefully with the scissors in a gesture he only hoped could be seen as intimidating. “What the fuck did you do to Gwen?”

“I helped her,” Daniel said simply. He looked off towards where the female counselor slumped against the wall, and his gaze was almost immediately snapped back to the kid in front of him. “It took some convincing, she was willing to undergo the process of ascension.”

“That doesn’t fucking look willing!” Max motioned at the splashes of blood and the clear signs of struggle and distress. “You murdered her!”

“She wanted to ascend, whether she knew it or not. Gwen is in a better place now, and I’m sure she loves it. In fact, I think you’d love it there, too.”

“Fuck you!” Max shouted, stamping his foot against the floorboards in an act to ground himself. “Fuck you! I’ll kill you, you fucking cultist!”

“I know you’re upset, Max, but please don’t yell, there’s no need to raise our voices. You’ll thank me for ascension later when you arrive at a higher level of being.”

The way Daniel smiled made Max falter. It wasn’t malicious, or cunning, or scheming. It was the warm smile that made him think of hot chocolate on the dock, a shoulder to lean on in even the most emotional situations. It reminded him of the kind of father he wishes he’d had.

“Fuck off,” Max breathed, hands shaking to the point of being unable to hold the scissors steadily. He felt light-headed. “You’re just a fucking coward who uses religion as an excuse for murder.”

“I’ve tried my best to be a good role model for you-”

“You can’t be a good role model, you just fucking  _ can’t _ ! There’s no way someone like you could be even  _ remotely _ redeemable!”

“When you needed someone to talk to, who was there waiting attentively? When you just wanted time away from the kids, who let you stay in your tent all day? Who was there for you when your parents  _ forgot about you _ ?”

“David,” Max replied, glaring daggers towards the other.

“Max, all this time, it’s been me. While David had been spending time in prison, I’ve been the one to share these moments with you.” David had walked close enough to rest his hand against Max’s shoulder. Daniel. Daniel put his hand on Max’s shoulder. Why was his vision suddenly so blurry? Max blinked and felt a tear crawl down his cheek.

Daniel crouched down to Max’s level. From this close, Max could see the blonde roots beneath the red hair dye. He almost wanted to pretend he couldn’t. Daniel put a hand to Max’s cheek and brushed his thumb across the skin, wiping the tear away from his face. His hands were icy cold. “It’s okay to cry. You know that I love you, and I understand you’re having a lot of feelings about this… but you have to trust that I know best. Have I been anything but good to you?”

Max felt a lump form in his throat as he lowered his scissors shakily, collapsing into Daniel’s arms. Daniel drew his arms around the child and pulled him into a gentle hug. It was only a few moments later when Max pulled out of Daniel’s grip, eyes wet with tears. He looked towards the ground in shame. The cracks in the floorboards traced out a pattern lost in translation. “I trust you.”

Daniel’s smile grew wider with every second, and soon he breathed out in a sigh of… a feeling Max couldn’t recognize. Daniel dropped from his crouch to his knees, bringing the knife towards the boy, tilting his chin up so the two made eye contact.

“Is it going to hurt?” Max asked, hopeful, fearful, confused eyes heavy with tears.

“Only for a second.” Daniel shifted his grip on the knife, bringing it down slowly towards Max’s chest until the tip of the knife barely brushed against the fabric. “I’m so proud of you.”

A sickening noise of flesh and metal could be heard. Blood began seeping through and staining Daniel’s white shirt. His knife dropped to the ground, and he was soon to follow, forearms scraping against the wood.

Max stood over Daniel, bloodied scissors gripped tightly in his hand. Daniel looked up at him, eyebrows furrowed, smiling. He laughed. His laughter quickly turned to coughing, blood seeped through the cracks in the floor. Max scoffed, using his shoulder to wipe off the trickling rivers that found their way down his face.

“I guess there’s one thing you and David have in common: you’re both idiots. Eat shit, asshole.” Max spoke with a firm and cracked voice, eyes brimming with fresh tears that threatened to spill over.

Daniel stopped moving.

Max dropped to his knees and cried.


	2. What Happens Next

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So the men brought out another set of prisoners, lining them against the same white backdrop with height markers faded but visibly painted to it. At first glance, he wasn’t there either, but a tuft of crimson barely laced with blonde stuck out of the crowd. Max brushed it off before he realized it wasn’t a coincidence. David stood with an air of defeat about him. His forest green eyes were staring at the floor, his back was slumped, and the spark of his personality just didn’t seem to be there. But it was David, Max could tell.
> 
> He put his hand against the glass. “Number twenty-four.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man I was NOT expecting to write a second chapter to this but a comment on the first sent me into drabble-mode, then it just... turned into almost two thousand words holy heck ??
> 
> Anyway! Enjoy!

The door closed with a gentle click. Max stared at the floor as two sets of heavy and business-like footsteps approached him, two men in black suits stood at either side. “Can you show us which one of these is your counselor?”

Max looked up. His weight shifted from foot to foot as he impatiently gazed at the line of men against the wall, behind the one-way glass. None of them were David.

So the men brought out another set of prisoners, lining them against the same white backdrop with height markers faded but visibly painted to it. At first glance, he wasn’t there either, but a tuft of crimson barely laced with blonde stuck out of the crowd. Max brushed it off before he realized it wasn’t a coincidence. David stood with an air of defeat about him. His forest green eyes were staring at the floor, his back was slumped, and the spark of his personality just didn’t seem to be there. But it was David, Max could tell.

He put his hand against the glass. “Number twenty-four.”

The rest of the line was herded back through the door, but when David went to follow, the man in the suit grabbed his shoulder and steered him the other way. The anxiety that washed over the poor man was more than apparent as he reluctantly followed. Max shuffled his feet and chewed at the inside of his lip, lost in thought before a tired and delicate voice asked, “Max?”

Max didn’t even need to look up to know that it was David. So he didn’t, and he kept his mouth shut. His hands were shaking, and he could feel tears in his eyes. He didn’t want David to see him like this.

The sound of a few mechanical locks could be heard. Someone stepped against the wooden floor, and a pair of feet appeared in Max’s field of vision. His eyes followed up the skinny legs, lanky body, and made contact with those same emerald eyes he’d remembered. They’d lost their childlike quality, but they were more real than he could have hoped for. That was enough for him. He bit down even harder on his lip as David’s facial features began to soften.

Max broke eye contact and looked at the ground, voice crackling with unseen emotions and betraying him, “You’re fucking  _ welcome _ .”

Max’s attention was more so focused on keeping himself from losing his disposition and reducing himself to tears in front of David, and... these other men. In any case, the boy only looked at his feet, nodding absently when prompted. Voices echoed in and out of his ears, blurring together with the ticking of the clock, the gentle static hum of electricity working its way through the lighting fixtures. The third one from the left flickered.

Why hadn’t they replaced it yet? It was so clearly broken, maybe even broken beyond repair, the only thing to do now was to throw it away and purchase a new bulb. The glass was intact and smooth, without as much as a tarnish, yet the light struggled to shine. The defect was somewhere on the inside, hidden beneath the surface. It wasn’t worth the time to figure out what was wrong.

A short and older man dressed in scruffy jean overalls and a long, stained white shirt propped a step ladder beneath the light. He rose up to it, caressing it in his hand for a moment before unscrewing the bulb. The man retrieved a screwdriver from his pocket, and tinkered with the fixture in his hand. Max craned his neck ever so slightly in an attempt to see what he was doing to it. Once the man had finished, he dropped the tool back into his pocket, and returned the lightbulb back to its perch. It wavered uncertainly for a moment, but a gentle tap from the man let it shine brighter than ever.

Max watched for a few moments longer, gaze lingering at where the old man had been standing. If he hadn’t known it beforehand, he never would have guessed that the bulb had been out.

Max and David walked in almost perfect unison down the steps, and out onto the street. David paused, but Max kept walking, like he didn’t know that the other had halted. He was more than aware, yet he realized that if David stopped walking, that meant he was going to give a speech, a pep rally, some sort of talk that would let Max know he wasn’t alone and that things would get better. He didn’t trust himself enough to have that conversation.

David caught up to the kid quickly, stepping in front of him with an air of worry. Max stopped walking. David rested his hand on Max’s shoulder and crouched down so they were at the same eye level. Max refused to make eye contact, he could feel his skin crawling.

“Max…” David breathed, eyebrows drawing tightly together, “What happened while I was gone? How are things?”

“What do you  _ think _ , David? Daniel fucked with everyone’s heads and killed Gwen. Camp’s been shut down. That should’ve been fucking obvious,” Max spat, face scrunching in frustration. He was almost glad the conversation had started this way, anger was easier to manage than sadness. David was just too stupid to re-

“I’m asking about you, Max.” David spoke softly. Something the boy hadn’t expected, he looked up from the floor with weary and softened eyes. “I’m asking about you… how are you handling this? It seems like an awful lot for a kid to-”

“I’m fucking  _ fine _ .” Max spat forcefully, a bit louder than he’d intended, yanking his gaze away from his ex-camp counselor and dropping his head toward the floor.

“I know you’re upset, Max, but please don’t yell, I just want to talk about this.”

Max looked up at David again, wondering if his ears were playing tricks on him. That was almost  _ exactly _ what Daniel had said to him. He looked again, and David wore a special sort of smile, a warm smile that made him think of hot chocolate on the dock, a shoulder to lean on in even the most emotional situations. It reminded him of the kind of father he wishes he’d had. It reminded him of  _ Daniel _ , and how  _ Daniel _ had looked at him only a week prior. It sent chills up Max’s spine just thinking about how similar the two were. He instinctively raised his hands to David’s chest and pushed him away.

“Get away from me you fucking cultist!” Max’s screamed, his voice cracked. His heart was pounding in his chest and his thoughts seemed to never end. Daniel survived and he was there to finish what he’d started.

David winced at the sudden and harsh movement coupled with the shriek that hurt his ears, but he got the memo and pulled his hand back. Remorse began filling the pit in Max’s stomach, seeing the way David reacted to that.  _ It’s not Daniel, you idiot. Daniel’s dead. _ Max wrapped his arms around himself as a layer of protection between the two of them. He moved to speak again, harshly but in a voice much quieter than he’d wanted. “Look, David, I got you out of prison,  _ okay _ ? That’s  _ it _ . There’s  _ nothing _ to talk about.”

Max shrugged his shoulders upwards to conceal his face from the other. His whole body was shaking, his heart was the loudest thing in the neighborhood. David bit his lip. Somewhere in the distance, a car puttered along the road, and a dog barked.

“You were right… I should have seen that Daniel was no good,” David spoke quietly, as if his words were enough to shatter the boy, “You warned me about it, and I didn’t listen to you… I’m sorry you had to go through this, Max.”

Max stayed silent. He was afraid that if he spoke he’d start to cry. David reached out tentatively, almost as if asking for permission before he hugged Max. Max let his chin drop down against David’s shoulder, and he closed his eyes.

 

Max screamed at the top of his lungs, raspy and desperate, untrimmed fingernails tearing and clawing at the baby blue sheets around him. Everything was blurred, his heart raced, and he could still feel the cold, searing metal against his chest. His breathing quickened in panic as The light in the room clicked on, and a thin figure rushed to Max’s side. He screamed even louder, scratching at whoever it was and pushing away from the man he was sure was about to- “Max! It’s okay!”

“Stay away from me!” Max shrieked, kicking at the figure. His head spun and no matter how hard he tried to focus on the situation, he found himself unable to unblur the shadows cast by the lamp. The man held Max’s shoulders. Max thrashed around in terror. “Get off of me you kool-aid drinking fuck! Get  _ off _ of me!”

“Max, it was just a dream! It’s okay. Breathe,” a strong and feminine voice yelled over the commotion. Once Max recognized David’s voice, he stopped screaming, but the pounding in his chest and head made him dizzy, and no matter how hard he tried everything was moving too fast. David wrapped his arms around Max and pulled him in close, stroking the kid’s hair in a soothing motion Max had begun to welcome. The motion alone was enough to calm the small boy. He hugged David back, squeezing as tightly as he could and pressing his face into his guardian’s shoulder.

“God, I’m so fucking pathetic..” Max breathed, barely audible against David’s shoulder. “It’s been a  _ whole year _ and I still have nightmares...”

“You’re not pathetic,” David assured him, “you’re just a kid who went through some pretty traumatic things. You still have some growing to do. After all, you’re only eleven, and everyone recovers at their own pace.”

Max began to calm down at that, tears sliding down his face. He hated it when David was right. Things never were the same in his head after that day. Max’s sense of childlike innocence, or what was left of it, was gone. David’s enthusiasm had been robbed from him. That was something Max would always miss, but things weren’t so bad. David was still the same man he’d met in camp, and despite it all, he still managed to remain positive. The bounciness and giddy naivety was gone, but the man behind all of it had survived. It would have been a lot more difficult for David to have adopted Max if he was still that enthusiastic. Max was grateful he did, though, he wasn’t sure how he’d have made it without David.

“I’m sorry you have to deal with me,” Max mumbled after a prolonged period of comfortable silence. He pulled away from David’s grip, and wiped his eyes with his hands.

“Max,” David began, lowering his head to see Max’s face better, “I don’t ‘deal with’ you, we’re in this together and I’ll always be here for you,  _ especially _ when you’re having nightmares, you know that, right?”

Max sighed gently and pulled his blankets up to his shoulders. “It’s just… I don’t want you to feel like you  _ have to _ be here for me.”

David put a gentle hand on the top of his kid’s head, giving him that soft smile that reminded Max of sipping hot chocolate on a dock when the outside was too cold for just a jacket, and stargazing out in the wilderness where the stars shone brightly. “I don’t have to be here for you, but I want to. Taking care of you is the best thing I could have asked for. “


End file.
